Video: Rubio’s closing argument on immigration reform

posted at 4:01 pm on June 27, 2013 by Allahpundit

When I asked on Twitter whether any video of his speech this afternoon was available, someone snarked back that I should just read his RNC speech from last year since they’re basically the same. Not true, but it’s not totally untrue either. Every Rubio speech has the same template: Lots of biography, lots of shining-city-on-the-hill platitudes about America, and then, almost as an afterthought, some remarks on the subject at hand. Obama’s famous speech at the 2004 Democratic convention is the eternal model, which makes sense because Rubio’s following the same path that O did: He, personally, is The Change. By virtue of his youth, optimism, and distinct personal identity, he can lead his party and the country to a degree of success that no one else can. This is what he’s counting on, in fact, to smooth things over with conservatives who are angry with him over immigration come 2016. You guys want your own Obama to steamroll the opposition through the sheer force of his charisma and only-in-America personal success story, don’t you? Well, here he is. Cut him some slack on amnesty, which was designed as a pander to win national elections in the first place, and let’s roll. Fired up, ready to go!

John McCormack of the Weekly Standard was reminiscing on Twitter a few hours ago about interviewing candidate Rubio in 2009 and being reassured, repeatedly, that he wouldn’t support amnesty even for a hardworking law-abiding (except for crossing the border!) illegal immigrant family because it would be unfair to people who followed the rules to let anyone who didn’t off scot-free. Four years later, now that he’s a legit presidential contender, the rule of law has sunk into a gooey soup of dreams:

Here they brought their language and their customs. Their religions and their music. And somehow, made them ours as well. From a collection of people from everywhere, we became one people. The most exceptional nation in human history.

And even with all our challenges, we remain the shining city on the hill. We are still the hope of the world.

Go to our factories and fields. Go to our kitchens and construction sites. Go to the cafeteria of this very Capitol. There, you will find that the miracle of America still lives.

For here, in America, those who once had no hope, will give their children the life they once wanted for themselves.

Here, in America, generations of unfulfilled dreams will finally come to pass.

I support this reform.

Not just because I believe in immigrants, but because I believe in America even more.

That last line is almost a self-parody of Rubio’s strained non-sequitur attempts to sweep away legitimate differences on policy with sunny city-on-the-hill rhetoric. Forget whether the bill is terrible, or whether it creates incentives for employers to hire illegals over Americans, or whether it’ll lead to another amnesty in 25 years, or whether it’ll worsen the entitlement crunch when legalized illegals start retiring. We’re talking about dreams here. And so I repeat a point I made recently: Did candidate Rubio, the staunch amnesty opponent, never consider “dreams”? Did he never think deeply about this issue until after he was elected, despite debating it with Charlie Crist repeatedly in 2010? What changed between the time McCormack interviewed him and today, besides the political expediency involved in supporting amnesty? The answer, I think, is that America is the last, best hope of mankind, and a miracle birthed by the Founders, and we are not blue states or red states but the United States, so stop asking questions already, okay?

But now let me repeat another point I made recently: This speech isn’t aimed at you and me. We’re ideologues, and he kissed off the ideologues when he decided to support an amnesty bill. It’s aimed at the majority who pay attention to the news one or two hours a week, like the idea of bipartisan compromise and comprehensive immigration reform even though they really don’t know what’s in the bill, and will enjoy listening to a fluid hopeful communicator like Rubio talk about the promise and glory of America as a contrast to stiffs like McCain and Romney. The guy knows who his audience is, and he knows what he’s doing. That’s the one consolation for border hawks if he ends up as nominee — he’ll certainly, certainly be better at getting his message out than the last few nominees were. Who knows? Instead of losing 73 percent of the Latino vote next time, we might only lose 65.

Blowback

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This bastid, Reid, is such a hypocritical mortician. May the creche get him soon. He was talking about some poor illegal woman who deserves to be a citizen because she endures hardship.

In the meanwhile he is obtuse to the fact that all who vote for this travesty destroy the poor and the middle class of America, the legal citizens, some of whom sustain the ‘civil servants’ and the poor of the world.

I think Rubio only supports “immigration reform” because he is latino, most illegal aliens in America standing to benefit from said reform are latino, and because he sees them as his people first and foremost, just like Holder won’t hold his people in the NBPP accountable for voter intimidation.

And for sharts and giggles, primary Rubio with a current illegal alien, since Marco and his ilk couldn’t care less about the rule of law. Call it a “Pathway to the Senate.”

Rubio has set the new standard for alienating a political base. He’s managed to go from GOP 2016 frontrunner to also-ran. His constant explanations for supporting his amnesty plan is only infuriating his base even more. At some point, even the majority who pay attention to the news infrequently, get the message from those of us who do constantly. We all witnessed the downfall of Charlie Crist who pretended to be a conservative until his mask was eventually ripped off. Now he works for a law firm. Rubio will never be able to run from his amnesty bill. His political opponents now have a lot of ammunition. Allen West plans to primary him in 2016. His only option will be to become a Democrat. Of course, then he will have to explain every one of his conservative comments to his Democrat opponents. That means, he’s pretty much done.

Shall I tell you about my experience last year, driving around NoVA on a Sunday night, asking for directions to a motel where I had reservations? Not one employee in the assorted gas stations, quick-stop stores, or pharmacies spoke English.

from the Headlines:

Andrew Stiles reports at NRO’s “The Corner”:

The Senate has voted 68-32 to end debate on the Gang of Eight immigration reform bill, setting up a final vote this afternoon. The bill is certain to pass, and almost certainly by an identical margin.

“This is one of the most divisive issues in one of the most divisive Congresses, but you know what? Our Republican guys showed amazing strength,” Senator Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) told reporters after the vote.

“Our self-deportation days are behind us,” Lindsey Graham declared as he walked off the Senate floor. ”[Former Colorado congressman] Tom Tancredo’s view of life has been rejected.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) has scheduled a final vote for 4 p.m.

AP, got to take exception to your majority who pay attention to the news one or two hours per week! A significant majority of U.S. citizens oppose any form of amnesty! In fact, 62% of Independents, oppose amnesty according to a poll released this week!Plenty of dems oppose it also.

Has the “conservative” Rubio indicated why he thinks that the pork that was crammed into his bill is good for America? Maybe he can tell us why legalizing millions of criminals is good for America. Why did he support cloture when no other GOP Senator had time to read the bill? I’m still waiting for an answer to any of those questions…Que the crickets…

But now let me repeat another point I made recently: This speech isn’t aimed at you and me. We’re ideologues, and he kissed off the ideologues when he decided to support an amnesty bill. It’s aimed at the majority who pay attention to the news one or two hours a week, like the idea of bipartisan compromise and comprehensive immigration reform even though they really don’t know what’s in the bill, and will enjoy listening to a fluid hopeful communicator like Rubio talk about the promise and glory of America as a contrast to stiffs like McCain and Romney. The guy knows who his audience is, and he knows what he’s doing.

Maybe, but he’ll have a tough time winning the GOP primary in 2016 without us ideologues supporting him. And even if he does buy his way to the nomination like Romney did, he’ll never win the general election with a fractured base. He’s finished as a Presidential contender. He foolishly gambled his entire future on a lousy amnesty bill written by Chuck Schumer and lost badly. And it’s not like we weren’t warning him repeatedly over the last few months that he needed to walk away from this thing. Rubio has no one to blame but himself.

From a collection of people from everywhere, we became one people. The most exceptional nation in human history.

And he has no clue why or how.

Fenris on June 27, 2013 at 4:07 PM

And with today’s Democratic party, aided and abetted by progressive groups, they’ve made sure we can’t become one people because of all the special identity groups they’ve created.

I caught part of this on the radio this afternoon and Rubio mentioned something to the effect of the only way we solve this immigration issue is by having the government pass reform so they can enforce these laws. Because government does such a good job of enforcing the laws already on the books (see: immigration, gun control).

The pretender is vacationing in Africa, 100 million of your dime, with his nieces, in laws and the clan.

He, whose forefathers sold the slaves, went through “the door of no return” today in Senegal. Michelles said she “grew up just like the Senegalese kids”…but she said she “felt at home in Ireland” last week.

Meanwhile the freaks from the left/right turn the USA into Somalia or Bangladesh.

Marco needs to get a ghost written autobiography out there STAT! The RNC will need to buy thousands of copies to launch it onto the best seller list at the proper time in the 2016 campaign, and ensure him of lifetime financial security.

ILLEGAL!!! It’s a word Rubio. Look it up. It means not legal. The people you voted to give amnesty to today are not immigrants, they are ILLEGAL ALIENS! They are people who came to this country ILLEGALLY in order to take advantage of our healthcare, schools and welfare system. And to take our jobs and drive down our wages. I have a dream that one day we will have elected officials who do not lie to get elected. I have a dream that one day we have elected officials who actually represent the people.

Shall I tell you about my experience last year, driving around NoVA on a Sunday night, asking for directions to a motel where I had reservations? Not one employee in the assorted gas stations, quick-stop stores, or pharmacies spoke English.

And the completely and totally unbiased and bi-partisan panel, has determined to give the grand prize to Marco Rubio for his EARNESTY’S DREAMS. Now EARNESTY’S DREAMS is a token of this man’s genius…he told me so himself and repeatedly … that he could change perceptions by calling his plan for knocking down those pesky borders EARNESTY …in other words, he could have been a little more specific, but rather than allude to an articulation of the mundane, he has come to the conclusion that brevity is the importance of our nation’s shallow and selfish first world existence. God damn!

Marco Rubio’s EARNESTY’S DREAMS – is a small contribution to a certain degree, since there are over seven billion people in the world today. 315 of them … million live in the United States which is a very, very small amount compared to those who will be miserable and enslaved and dying elsewhere…Well, I say that you will be on the road to new horizons, for we who live in a society where citizenship is a commodity and a politician can become a TV personality and very wealthy, it’s not easy to conform if you have any morality at all…I, I, I said that myself many years ago…

But I do want to thank la Raza…I mean the RNC … I mean the DNC and it’s subsidiary the RNC, the organization for the $500 in affirmative action latino dream scholarships they’ve given out…tonight they took in over $5,000,000, but they do have expenses for their brilliant consultants you know, and I think that I have another appointment. I certainly hope so. I would like to stay here, but for the sake of brevity I, I must leave. I do want to thank you, and I want to thank the founding fathers for all the sacrifices they made however much they were in vain but now, most of all, and looking into the failure … I mean the future .. I want to thank Marco Rubio – acting el Presidenta of Juarez la Raza Mexiamerica and Paul Ryan – acting First Lady of Juarez la Raza Mexiamerica and also Mr. Obama – acting Pharaoh and Peeping Tom … I mean Spy Master and Drone Commander of the World – and also I want to thank Professor Irwin Corey and again, thank you. …

How depressing it is to see the country public debates dominated by such oily, greasy, lying worms. Oil Can Rubio himself is beyond shame, but we should be ashamed that he’s been allowed any public perch at all.